Today at the Microsoft’s annual Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Houston, Texas – Microsoft executives took the stage to discuss the company’s devices and services approach with our partners. Tami Reller, Windows CMO and CFO, talked about how Windows is the foundation that people trust and how it’s powered by high-value services – like Xbox, SkyDrive, and Skype – bringing customers a great experience across all their devices.

With Windows 8.1 Preview now available, we would like to highlight a compatibility issue with the Windows Phone Emulator included in the Windows Phone SDK 8.0. When you start the Windows Phone 8.0 emulator in Visual Studio 2012 on Windows 8.1, the following dialog may appear to indicate a compatibility issue:

Today during Microsoft’s keynote at Computex Taipei 2013, the world’s second largest computer show, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s OEM division Nick Parker reinforced the potential the Windows platform can offer for partners. As part of the keynote, Windows CFO and CMO Tami Reller joined him onstage and shared the ongoing progress we’re seeing with Windows 8 and what that means in terms of opportunities for the ecosystem.

We want to make sure everyone is starting this school year off on the right foot. So today, Microsoft is launching a program to help students and parents purchase a new Windows PC or Tablet for school that is complete with the latest and most complete set of Office applications.

Earlier this week I was on stage at the WIRED Business Conference talking about Windows and how it continues to evolve. With Windows 8 we bet on the computing trends shaping today and tomorrow: mobility, touch, apps that connect seamlessly and are with you everywhere you go. We are no longer tied to the desktop, literally and figuratively.

Julie Larson-Green, Corporate Vice President for Windows, took to the stage at the Wired Business Conference a little while ago to talk about Windows 8 – reiterating much of the momentum Tami talked about earlier in this blog post. She also talked about our approach to making Windows 8 for a world where mobility is at the forefront. We continue to listen and respond to our customers.

Starting tomorrow, Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) will begin rolling out automatically on Windows Update. Updating customers to Windows 7 SP1 is part of our ongoing effort to ensure continued support and improved security updates for customers who have not yet installed SP1.

I wanted to publish a quick reminder that you have until February 28th to register for the Windows Upgrade Offer to receive a promo code via email that can be used to upgrade your Windows 7 PC to Windows 8 Pro for just $14.99. Once you’ve registered for the Windows Upgrade Offer, you’ll need to use your promo code by February 28th as well.

Has it been that long already? Windows 7 SP1 was released almost two years ago. As a result of that release, Windows 7 RTM (with no service pack) will no longer be supported as of April 9th, 2013, following the standard Windows support lifecycle specifying that support ends 24 months after the release of a new service pack.

Rest assured that Windows 7 will continue to be fully supported for a long time, with mainstream support continuing until January 13, 2015, and extended support continuing until January 14, 2020.